(This is a reprint from the iPod Devotional that is posted every Monday at theFish.com) I love watching the giant balloons of the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade floating through New York as wide-eyed children watch. I love the traditional football games. The official start of the Christmas season. The post feast nap. I love it all and Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching. Thanksgiving Song by Mary Chapin Carpenter captures the intimacy of this wonderful holiday. Grateful for each hand we holdGathered round this table.From far and near we travel home,Blessed that we are able. Grateful. That is a powerful word that is so easy to overlook in the tension of life and the depressing cycles of usually bad news. I have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. I am grateful for another year with my best friend and bride Joni. I am grateful for three wonderful sons, two amazing daughter-in-laws and one soon to appear grandchild. I am blessed that
Continue reading...

My lovely bride Joni loves pottery so one of my “sacrificial” ways to love her is to accompany her to pottery shops. Guys refer to that as “hitting behind the runner” or “taking the charge”. On a visit to scenic Waco eldest son Matt and daughter-in-love Holly took us to a working craft village called Homestead Heritage. If you visit Central Texas this hidden treasure is worth a trip for the restaurant alone. It is a delightful array of shops that features a working gristmill, cloth weaving and spinning wheels, a real forge and a pottery shed. I was fascinated by the open work area of the pottery shop. There were several artisans making vases and pots right before my eyes. Behind me were shelves of the finished products -colorful and beautiful and functional. I watched a potter take a nondescript lump of clay and skillfully make an unique and beautiful creation. The verse from Isaiah came to mind. O Lord, you are our Father.      We are the clay, and you are the potter.     
Continue reading...